1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for assisting in the movement of physically impaired individuals for one location to another, and more particularly to a device for allowing a physically impaired individual to transfer themselves from one location to another without the aid of another individual.
2) Description of the Related Art
Individuals who are physically impaired or disabled usually must rely on the assistance of another individual to transfer themselves from one location to another. Assistance is usually needed with the most simplest of tasks such as maneuvering from a wheel chair to a bed and vice versa. Most disabled or physically impaired individuals feel helpless and robbed of their independence when they need to rely on others for such simple task like maneuvering from a wheel chair to a bed. These individuals desire the freedom to transfer for themselves and not to rely on others.
The inventive minds of those who work with disabled or physically impaired individuals such as occupational or physically therapist have brought forth several inventions which facilitate the transferring of such individuals from one location to another. One of these invention is disclosed in Christensen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,137. Christensen discloses an apparatus which facilitates the transferring of a disabled or physically impaired individual from one location to another location. However, the Christensen invention is designed to operate with the assistance of an attending person who rotates the platform to correctly orient the individuals with respect to the wheel chair or other location.
Another invention which was designed to assist invalids and the handicapped is disclosed in Hodges, U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,824. The invention of Hodges is a bed access apparatus which is connected to a bed and allows the disabled or physically impaired individual to transfer themselves in and out of bed without mechanical assistance and often without assistance from another individual. The Hodges invention is a structural framework with overhead bars which allow the disabled or physically impaired individual to raise themselves out of bed by grasping onto the bars and shifting themselves to the edge of the bed where they can then grasp an outrigger bar to place themselves in a wheel chair.
Several other inventions use similar designs to allow a disabled or physically impaired individual to raise themselves out of bed or the shower through grabbing onto a stationary bar structure. However, what is needed is a device which allows a disabled or physically impaired individual to transfer themselves from one location to another without the assistance of another individual, and which is not a fixed structure so as to be able to position the device in multiple locations if necessary.